Herbst
Die Blätter fallen, fallen wie von weit,
als welkten in den Himmeln ferne Gärten;
sie fallen mit verneinender Gebärde.
Und in den Nächten fällt die schwere Erde
aus allen Sternen in die Einsamkeit.
Wir alle fallen. Diese Hand da fällt.
Und sieh dir andre an: es ist in allen.
Und doch ist Einer, welcher dieses Fallen
unendlich sanft in seinen Händen hält.
Autumn
The leaves are falling, falling as from far,
as though life waned on high in distant gardens;
their falling has a gesture of negation.
And heavy Earth at night falls from its station
to loneliness, leaving behind the stars.’
We all are falling. This hand falls as well.
Just look at others: they all heed this calling.
Though there is One whose hands ensure this falling,
with boundless gentleness, a place to dwell.
Rilke’s poetry has such a tremendous pulse, a feeling that the lines breathe effortlessly. So strong is it that the flow is unbroken, even though there is an extra middle line in the first verse, one that does not rhyme with any other. Remove line 2 and you have AB/BA/CD/DC. ‘Gärten sounds similar to ‘Gebärde/Erde’, but I have had to choose a different echo: ‘garden’ echoes ‘far/stars’.
It could well be argued that my suggested translation strays from the original German at times, but I am weighing this objection up against the overall feel of the pulse of the poem. I will try and find other translations into English now, to see what their priorities are.
https://poets.org/poem/autumn-8
https://allpoetry.com/poem/8505751-Autumn-by-Rainer-Maria-Rilke
http://www.thebeckoning.com/poetry/rilke/rilke8.html
https://emilyspoetryblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/autumn-by-rainer-maria-rilke/
https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=26395
https://www.literarymatters.org/12-1-rainer-maria-rilke-fall/
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/autumn/
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